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Sacred Garland: available now!

Click here for availability from Chandos Early Music
Faye Newton – soprano, Jamie Savan – cornett
Richard Sweeney – theorbo, Steven Devine – organ & harpsicord
Click here to buy from Devine Music (proceeds go directly towards our next recording)


For this collection we have chosen some of the most beautiful music from the dawn of the baroque era in Italy, by Monteverdi and his contemporaries. The composers include familiar names such as Frescobaldi, Merula and Grandi, together with the minor masters Nicolò Corradini, Benedetto Re and Archangelo Crotti, who share a gift for writing accessible, tuneful music for solo voice with obbligato instruments. On hearing us perform this repertoire, Catherine Bott described our blend of voice and cornett as that of ‘two soprano instruments’ matched ‘in dazzling duet’, and we hope this recording lives up to her high praise.

But don’t just take our word for it – here is what others have to say about Sacred Garland:

“What a great CD! Technically and musically assured, with a keen understanding of the idiom and displaying a wonderful sense of unanimity and ensemble, the virtuoso members of the Gonzaga Band perform this beautiful and ground-breaking selection of sacred works by Monteverdi and some of his unjustly-neglected contemporaries with passion, drama, style and panache. You must hear it!” Philip Pickett

“In the late 16th and 17th centuries the human voice and the cornett were highly valued by composers as vehicles for music of great expressivity on the one hand and considerable virtuosity on the other. This wonderful recording shows off instruments and voice to advantage... If you have enjoyed the few-voice motets of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, then this recording is for you!” Professor John Whenham, University of Birmingham

“CD of the Week” ABC Classic FM (Australia), w/b 17 August 2009
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"A ravishingly beautiful disc, bringing into deserved notice some of the lesser known Italian composers of the 17 C. Jamie Savan's superb cornetto playing [is] heard to great advantage… Faye Newton sings with purity and lovely tone, supported by leading early music specialists, who interpose solo instrumental pieces and duets. A CD to return to again and again." Musical Pointers
Click here for the full review

"This recording shows once again how perfectly suited the cornetto was (and is) in blending with the voice. Jamie Savan has an open and bright sound which matches well with soprano Faye Newton… their combination (historically justified) is very satisfying… offers great technical facility and often dashing bravura… All works are performed masterfully by the Gonzaga Band." Historic Brass Society
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Photo by Roger Proctor Photography
www.rogerproctor.co.uk


THE GONZAGA BAND was formed by cornettist Jamie Savan in 1997, in order to explore historical approaches to the performance of vocal and instrumental music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Its line-up is project led: the very best vocalists and period instrumentalists are ‘hand picked’ according to the specialist requirements of each programme. This means that the Gonzaga Band is able to offer a variety of innovative programmes, for combinations ranging from a quartet to a nonet, to suit most festival budgets.

'Flair and invention' - The Times

'Sublimely played' - The Independent

'Great vocal beauty and poise' - Daily Telegraph

'I've rarely heard mellifluous swing to match cornettist Jamie Savan's' – BBC Music Magazine

'Faye Newton and Jamie Savan matched voice and instrument in dazzling duet… I was very impressed with the open, true sound of Faye Newton’s voice, ideally blended with the cornett.' Catherine Bott, BBC Radio 3